Toddler Posts

Parenting is not an easy task.From potty training to teaching social skills,you also need to pay attention on toddler sleep problems and issues when your little baby grows up to an active toddler.

If you have a toddler who doesn’t sleep throughout the night then that is not only your kid. It is common that many parents complain about their toddler sleep problems. Many moms wake up few times during the night as their toddler does not sleep through the night. Last year I was in this same situation. So I know how painful the life is without a proper night sleep!

But, finally I am happy to say that my kid sleeps throughout the night giving me too a comfortable sleep. Below are some of the things we did to help our toddler to sleep comfortably throughout the night. I hope these tips are helpful for you too if you look for ideas on getting toddler to sleep!

Night Weaning

If you are a mom who breastfeed at night or even bottle feed at night, then you know how many times your toddler wakes up during the night time. Night weaning is one of the best ways to help your toddler to sleep.

When you wean completely during the night time, your toddler will start to sleep throughout the night giving you some relax. We experienced this. When I stopped breastfeeding him completely, my kid started to develop his night sleeping habit. It took few days for him to adjust. But after the first few days, he started to sleep continuously until the next morning. This was really a relief for me as I was really tired without having a good sleep!

Establish a Bedtime Routine

We established a bedtime routine for our kid when he was just 1 year old. Before that, we had a routine for him, but he was so young to understand the routine though he followed.

Before the bed time, I help the kid to get ready with his night pajamas after brushing teeth. When we started potty training, a potty trip is added to his bedtime routine.

My kid loves to read a bedtime story book before going to sleep

We established the habit of reading a bedtime story before get into sleep. So after getting ready with night pajama, my kid goes to the bed with few story books which he likes to read before sleeping. Reading a book helps him to calm down forgetting all the toys and activities he did throughout the day.

Buy a good Toddler pillow

A comfortable pillow is always helpful for a good night sleep. However, if you just use any pillow that is small in size thinking that is the best pillow for your toddler, check the pillow again.

A toddler pillow is designed especially considering the toddler age and sleeping needs. Therefore invest on a good toddler pillow which is specially designed for the right age. A good toddler pillow will ensure your little one a good sleep making him comfortable. You can buy a soothing pillow such as any Organic Toddler Pillow which can help your kid to ensure a good sleep. You can even look for designs of Organic Pillow for Toddler as organic items are always a healthy solution.

Avoid distractions from the bedroom

If you have lot of toys and other distractions including a TV in your bedroom, consider removing those. These items will disturb your toddler’s sleeping pattern and will not help your kid to calm down.I always arrange his bed by removing toys.

We converted our baby nursery to a toddler room removing all these toys and distractions when the kid was in toddler age.

Having a dim light will also help the toddler to sleep in a better environment forgetting all the distractions.

We tried all above tips when our kid was a toddler. All these ideas helped him to sleep continuously throughout the night. When he has a good sleep during the night time, he wakes up fresh in the next morning. So, a good night sleep always makes the next day beautiful for the toddler.

As a preschooler now my kid sleeps throughout the night.I am glad we followed all above tips at the right age to establish him a good sleeping pattern.

Do you have any experience with toddler sleeping issues? Please share your ideas below.

Toddlers are always with curiosity. They love to learn new things and they can grab the basic concepts easily. I remember last year when my son was a toddler. He was so active and energetic. He could easily grab concepts such as colours, numbers and letter when I used simple methods to introduce him such concepts.

Below are 3 activities which I did with my toddler. He loved those activities, so I know these are easy and fun activities to do with any toddler.

1. Colour sorting game

For this game, you don’t want to spend hours with crafty items. Instead find colourful cups and building blocks. Mix it up and ask your toddler to sort out the clours into the matching cup. This activity will keep him busy while giving the opportunity to learn colours.At the same time this is a good way to improve motor skills of any toddler.

2. Bowling with empty bottles

Not only for toddlers, this is even a fun game for a preschooler too. We used empty milk bottles from our recycling bin for this game. Once the game is over put back the empty bottles in recycling box and send for recycling.

Other than an activity that keeps kids engaging and active, this is a good way to teach them the concepts such as recycling and upcycling.

3. Simple Science experiments

Science for toddlers? Don’t worry! I am not going to talk about lab experiments. But do you know toddlers are the best age for teaching the basic concepts? Do some fun activities which shows them the science around home. These will be fun and interesting. They will love to do it again and again.

Make some ice cubes from water to explain the concept of liquid stage to ice stage. Add some colour to water and experience the change of colour. There are many ideas!

Little kids love ride on vehicles. It is same with my kid too. He loves ride on vehicles and every time he sees a kid playing on a ride on car, he gets excited. He shows me the car and asks me for a similar one. Now his birthday is around the corner, I am thinking of a perfect gift for him that he would love.

My kid loves to ride this remote control ride on car at my friend’s home 🙂

I am sure he will really appreciate a beautiful remote control ride on car which is especially for toddlers and small kids. That is why I started to search for tips and things to know before we buy a Remote Control Ride on Cars or a Remote Control Power Wheels for kids.

Before looking for things to know when buying a remote control ride on car, I wanted to check whether it is a unique gift idea or not. When I check the available designs for Remote Control Ride on Cars and Remote Control Power Wheels I was really impressed. Nowadays there are beautiful and exciting ride on cars available with great features that can make any kid get excited. But, what are the advantages of buying such a car for my kid? I want to know to make an informed decision before I buy.

Benefits of Remote Control Ride On Cars for kids

Here are the benefits that you can expect for your kids by using ride on cars or Remote Control Power Wheels.

Help to develop balance and coordination

Although a ride on car is powered using a remote control, kids pay attention on its track. They will focus on their ride and try to avoid any obstacle they see. This can be a great way to enhance the concentration and focusing skills of little kids from their young age.

Help to develop Role Playing Activities

Pretend playing or role playing is necessary for kids’ growth. Usually toddlers and preschoolers start role playing when they reach 2-3 years of age. This is a great way to enhance cognitive skills of kids. But how a remote control ride on car can help a kid to enhance role playing? Kids will find lot of role playing ideas around their ride on car before we mention such ideas to them! It can be a safari trip by a Remote Control Power Wheels or trip to the super market from his Remote Control Ride on Car. There will be many new ideas which help the kid to think, analyze and create a role play activity around the new car.

Improve family bonding time

It is true that a kid needs to play his remote control ride on car with the supervision of an adult. This is a great way to spend family time together. Around the ride on car, you will create lot of fantastic moments. With curious kid who loves role playing with his ride on vehicle, definitely it will be a family fun time.

So, finally I found the reasons to buy such a great gift for my kid. After all benefits of Remote Control Ride on Cars for kids, I find that the most important benefit is that my kid will be really excited with his new toy.

The topic ‘How to Teach Reading for your Toddler’ sounds more stressful if you imagine of your really young kid reads a book alone. Sure, they can’t read alone. And I don’t mean that you have to sit with your toddler and start teaching him or her to read books. However, as early learners toddlers are capable of grabbing the new ideas and skills. Your young toddler can start developing good reading habits before he even learns to read.

In this post I want to share some of my experiences and what I do to improve his reading skills. Before teaching our toddler to read, I always created reading environment around him and those helped him to develop his reading habits. Here are our some of the tried and tested tips to help you to develop a reader in your kid!

How to Teach Reading for your Toddler

Start reading from the day your newborn arrives home

Yes, you can start developing a reader right when your newborn arrives home from the hospital. Newborns respond to the rhythm of a voice and being drew close on a warm lap. There are books with nursery rhymes or beautiful pictures which are suitable for toddlers and infants.

Read before your toddler

When you read books, blogs or magazines, make it before your toddler. Children learn from what they see. If they observe that you are interested in reading, they are more likely to catch up the enthusiasm. They will sure follow you and start showing interest on books.

Set a reading space

You can modify a corner of the couch or a chair and make it a reading space in your toddler’s room. Arrange a spot that is comfy, has good lighting and space to keep a few books. This will make your toddler cozy and comfort with reading. We created a reading corner for our kid and he enjoys his time there. Sometimes it is just arranging books. There are times he just plays with books. But he loves his time at the reading corner.

Visit library with your toddler

Many libraries conduct story hours or literary programs for young kids. Take trips to the library with your toddler to give him a chance to raise good reading habits and also see other kids doing the same thing. You can borrow books when you are a member of the library. These books are good enough to read together with your kid.

Inspire toddlers to choose what to read

Visit library and give your child time to choose books that catches his interest. Children are more probably want to read books that they chose themselves. These activities create some responsibility and he will also improve his self-confidence.

Find reading moments during daily activities

Reading a Menu is a good idea when there is no new book around 🙂

You can help your child to watch out for reading moments. It can be reading road signs, magazines or leaflets. A toddler can easily recognize the alphabet letters on Newspapers or on the leaflets. I do the same with my kid asking him to show me the letters in Newspapers.

Create a bedtime reading routine

If you read bedtime stories for your kid, this will be a daily habit. We read few books before go to the bed. Now it is a daily routine which my kid enjoys. That reading time also help to improve our bonding. So we love our bedtime reading routine!

Give your toddler lot of books

how to teach reading for your toddler

Surround your toddler with lot of age appropriate books. Create a mini library at your home. We have a collection of books which are suitable for toddlers. Other than the books we buy, we also keep the magazines which my kid can easily spend time among pictures and letters.

Other than the expensive books for toddlers, we also buy books for affordable rates. Sometimes I buy books from flea markets which are used books. But still, these books are great additions for our mini library. After all it is my kid who loves to read!

Use Book Subscription services

Book subscriptions services are really great as it is like receiving a gift each month. I found my kids love for books when he receives a book subscription by mail. The excitement for his new books last for days and he repeats reading the new books he receive.

Above are some of the things and tips which we use at our home to improve reading skills of our kid. Do you use any of these tips? If you know any other idea, please share below

They call it ‘terrible toddler’, but I prefer to use the word ‘terrifying.’ Even putting all that I’ve learned as a nurse aside, they’re now going beyond exploration. At this stage, toddlers have their newfound autonomy, and they’ve advanced in the intelligence department.

Shy of reaching 24 months old, my boy would throw things because he enjoys them or he just feels like it. At exactly two years old, he would haul his toys and look at us as he waits for our reaction. Then he would laugh.

And before we knew it, he would throw even his food right in our faces. Yes, there’s no such thing as graceful parenthood. So if you’re wondering how to deal when toddler’s bad behaviour gets worse, I got you covered.

Understanding Your Toddler

At one point, it was cute. That was until we were eating in a public place and I suddenly found mashed potato on my cheek. There was also the time when he scratched my cousin’s face and bit her shoulder during their first meeting.

And you may wonder, is this still normal? Or do I need to do something to stop or lessen it? When can you say ‘enough is enough’?

Remember, aggression is part of their development. You don’t want to be too harsh but neither would you prefer to be lenient when it comes to discipline. Toddlers love stretching limits especially your patience.

You tell them not to do something, and they will do it just to spite you. My mother used to say, “The bigger the child, the bigger your mouth.” And it’s just recently when I realised how frighteningly accurate that is.

What you need are two things: patience and consistency. I guess I don’t need to explain the importance of the first one anymore because you already probably know it too well. The second one is vital because you should never cave in especially when you set clear limits.

For example, you gave them a time-out. You should do what you said you’d do. Don’t just make threats. If they realise you’re just telling them, they won’t take you seriously.

What To Do

Don’t shout – always go for the calm route. If your child starts biting someone and you’re there, immediately tell them ‘no’ in an assertive manner. Yelling won’t prove your point or get you anywhere.

It’s important to act as soon as you see it or before it even happens, so they will understand which ‘bad behaviour’ you’re referring. Also, don’t embarrass them in front of other people. Talk calmly.

Make direct eye contact. It’s something I religiously follow when talking to my toddler. Whether I say ‘I love you’ or tell him to stop throwing his toys, I call him and sit down or squat so we can be on the same eye level.

Then I speak to him slowly and clearly.

Control your temper. I did mention about avoiding any yelling or shouting. You want to lessen their aggression, and you can’t accomplish that by getting riled up quickly when they do something nasty or wrong.

If they see you lecturing them with a high-pitched voice, they might just try that too. Keep in mind how good this age is at imitating what they see.

Ensure positive reinforcement and never forget to praise them for their good behaviour. Saying something good can do wonders for you and your child. But it’s easier said than done.

Tell me if this scenario sounds familiar: if your kid is acting up, you may scold him. But if they’re behaving nicely (no biting or throwing stuff), you might just smile inwardly and feel relieved.

Yes, it needs effort, but it will pay off. It’s a lot like a pat on the back; they might just keep up their good behaviour if they realise it will earn them positive feedback.

Encourage physical activities like playing ball or running around. My son got to a stage when he threw food, toys, remote control and pretty much anything he can hold. I found that he no longer did it as often when I bought him balls of several shapes and my husband installed a basketball ring in our house.

Limit screen time. I keep on stressing this out because it can have several detrimental effects on your child not just socially but also psychologically and emotionally.

Nowadays, when you try to scroll through several channels, every once in a while, you will encounter violence. Even cartoons have scenes of chasing each other or fighting. It’s just not safe.

So the best thing you can do is ensure they only get a maximum of 2 hours every day where they can watch TV (I highly discourage the use of iPads and other gadgets).

Bottom Line

I hope you learned something from this post. I totally get what you’re feeling right now – so much anxiety and stress whether your child is still within the bounds of what you can call normal and what you can do to help them.

Of course, when in doubt, you can always check with your physician. Then again, we are talking about toddlers here, and as what I have mentioned earlier, they have this reputation of pushing you to the edge.

They’re probably just overwhelmed. But even if it’s a challenging time for you, take the time to enjoy this phase because like everything else, it will pass.

Author Bio

Nancy Shaw is the founder of HiFiveBaby where she writes about common problems encountered by parents and how to deal with them, motherhood in general and FAQs about babies, toddlers and kids. She provides scientific and medical basis and also her personal experience as a mom to a wonderful toddler. Now you can explore the joy of parenthood with ease! You can also find her on Twitter

Toys are essential for development of babies and toddlers. However, we as parents need to select the age appropriate toys to get the most of the benefits of play time. Toys can improve many skills for the little ones including imagination, creativity and hand eye coordination. However, as parents most of us always pay more attention to select educational toys or age appropriate toys which develop skills of infants and toddlers. Have you ever searched toys for your toddler considering any safety guidelines or do you always search for the best toys for toddlers?

Toy Safety Tips for Toddlers

When it comes to the best toys for the toddlers, you may lack of considering some of the safe tips which you must follow. That is why it is always need to consider both safe and educational toys for the young kids in order to create safe environment for them. Specially, it is important to follow toy safety standards and toy safety tips with toddlers as they are in a curious stage of life which they always try to explore new things.

Actually,I decided to write this post because of one of my experiences which I regretted much.Exactly one year ago(Last year September),my son faced an accident at home.He slipped on the floor and ended up with 4 stitches on his chin.If you notice the below picture which was taken at his 2nd year birthday celebration,he was with 4 stitches on his chin.In all these birthday photos he looks so tired because he was under treatment.Actually the floor was clean and tidy.But I gave him a balloon and the excited kid wanted to grab it fast and slipped on the floor.It was an accident which we never expected.

My son with stitches on his chin

Today,exactly after one year of that incident,I want to share some tips which you need to follow when you buy toys for your toddler or when you play with your toddler.These may helpful for you to avoid some of the unexpected incidents which we don’t want to face in our life.

Here are the tips which you can follow in order to ensure that your toddler is using safe toys and games. These tips will ensure your toddler to play in a fun and injury free environment which also creates a peaceful mind for you.

Safety Tips for Toys with Toddlers

Check for age appropriate toys and games. When you buy toys for your toddler, always check the product description and appropriate age range. This will ensure that you buy the correct toys for his age.

Once you open the packaging, always remember to discard the plastic wrappings. Plastic wrapping can suffocate a small child creating hazards that you will never expect!

Always avoid small toys and games from young children which increase possible choking hazards. Toys with removable small parts always increase the choking hazards.

I always pay attention when he plays with small toys.

Strangling is another possible hazard which you should aware of. If the toys are with rope, string or cords, you must be careful when your toddler is playing with such toys. It is always better to keep the strings away from their reach.

This trace & lace set comes with few cords.Instead of avoiding him playing with such educational toys,I always keep my eyes when he plays.

Always inspect toys of your toddler for sharp edges and broken parts. Discard the toys if those are broken.

Keep the toys in designated areas after playing. Start doing so with your toddler. Not only he will learn organizing from the early days of his life, he will also love this activity after any play session. Your toddler will have safe environment with tidy floor which also prevent falls and such accidents.

Not only with toys, you also need to follow safety guidelines and safety tips in everything you do with your toddlers and infants. It can be Food, outdoor playing, baby furniture or even travelling.You can easily learn more at Kokopax’s website about safe baby products and how do we need to decide on the products before buying.Safety should be in first concern with everything you do while raising your kid in order to raise happy and healthy kids.

Other than safety guidelines, it is also essential to know the latest information on recalls.

Their mission is to make information about recalls and safety-related news about drugs, medical devices, food, and consumer products with easy accessible way to everyone. Actually I opened my eyes once I read their safety guidelines and tips for infant & kids. There are lots more informative details and guidelines which you can read at their site. Have a look and see how you can add the safety guidelines and recalls information for your lifestyle. You can also find the alerts for recalls which are really helpful for you in order to keep your home and loved ones in safe environment.

Do you consider safety tips when you buy toys for your kids and toddlers? What are your toy safety tips? Please share your ideas below.

There are lots of outdoor activities for toddlers from different games to exploring the nature. Anyway, last few weeks I was busy with my toddler spending more time with him. He is spending the last few weeks of his age 2 and reaching the age 3.I can easily see his changes in behavior. Suddenly he is too active. It is not easier for me to keep him inside the home as he tries activities such as climbing. So, the best is to spend more time on outdoor activities till he use all of his packed energies. 🙂

I wanted to sit and relax. But as he was running here and there, I was running behind him too. May be I am too worried! 🙂

He found this slide as a good place to read a book. 🙂 At that time there were no other kids at the playground.

The Garden Table near our home/flat is a great place to enjoy some snacks after walking and playing around.We continued using this table for packed lunch and snacks.He loves his new dining experience! 🙂

We found this Garden Table as an interesting place to have some snacks! 🙂

How was your week? Do you have any photo stories for this week? Please share below.

Teaching Science concepts for toddlers are easier than you think. Simple Science experiments are one of the great ways to teach the basic concepts for toddlers as they are with full of curiosity. Anyway, don’t try to be too academic. Instead play with simple Science experiments while allowing them to grab the concept.

These easy science experiments are popular at our home and my toddler loves each and every activity while playing with fun! If you are looking for easy and simple ways to do some science experiments, try these, you also don’t need to prepare with lot of materials or equipment for these easy Science experiments.

Simple Science Experiments for Toddlers

Observe the displacement of water

This is a really simple science experiment for toddlers and kids. Use a glass full of water and ask your toddler to put stones or coins into it. Observe the water level rising. Use water up to top of the glass and also till the mid-level of the glass for different experiences. This experiment will give the basic idea of water displacement.

Add colour to water

This will be a fun activity as toddlers love to play with water. Add different colours to water and ask your toddler to mix water with colour. Observe the change of colour of water.

Melting ice

This is one of the really simple science experiments which you can do with your toddler. Add some ice cubes to a bowl of water. Observe the melting ice. Also it is good to experience the cold water while ice cubes are melting. This will be a simple and fun activity for any toddler.

Add some food colouring for water before making ice cubes.That will add more fun for your Science experiment with your toddler.Different shapes of ice is another idea!

Make ice cubes

Fill an ice cube tray with water and keep in the freezer. Show your kid what happened to water once the tray is inside the freezer for some time. He will surprise but he will also learn that water becomes the stage of ice when it is inside the freezer .It is a basic concept, but toddlers will learn that fast!

Floating rubber

Use a basket of water and add rubber toys into it. Rubber toys will float while coins and stones go to the bottom. It is a simple and fun activity to do with a toddler.

Among the toddler activities we do at our home, bowling with empty bottles is a pretty simple activity to keep a toddler cheerful!

Recently we got the semester progress report from our son’s playgroup and I found there are many activities they do at the playgroup to improve toddler skills. Among many activities that our son performs well, there was one activity which had the remark saying ‘sometimes’. It was throwing a small object to aimed direction. Although it is not a big problem for us because he does throwing objects sometimes only, I just thought of creating some activities for him to do at home to improve his skills. With that in mind, I came up with this idea of throwing a ball to empty bottles. I think this is pretty good to add to the toddler activities list.

It was a great hit to keep our son active, cheerful and concentrate at the same time. He loved throwing balls to the line of bottles and he wanted to see when all the bottles fell down because of him. Among the activities for toddlers we tried before, throwing a ball to empty bottles was great and kept him moving and shouting!

Toddler Activities: Bowling with empty bottles

Here is what we did. It is pretty simple.

We need few empty bottles for this activity. I found some similar size empty bottles from our DIY recycle bin.

We then arranged all the empty bottles in a row.

For this activity we used few different sized balls, so we could also talk about balls using the terms such as ‘small, big and colours such as green, yellow etc.

Once we arranged the empty bottles, then we stayed around 4 feet away from the bottles. I asked him to throw the balls to empty bottles.

That is really simple and we could spend around an hour playing this game.

Potty training is one of the milestones for parenting journey. It is exciting, fun and active. However, you need to prepare a lot and you need to expect lot of accidents during the potty training period. We started potty training our son when he was around 18 months old and it was the time he started showing the potty training readiness.

With his clues on potty training readiness, we bought a potty and I included sitting on the potty as the first thing to do in his daily routine. With my experience on potty training him, here are some of the tips on how to start potty training.

How to start potty training?

Switch to pull ups or training pants

This is one of the first things we did in our potty training period. We started using pants during day time and completely stopped the use of diapers when we are at home. He gradually learned how to pull the pants up and down, however we had many accidents and I had to spend more time on cleaning. Anyway switching to pants was a good way to teach him on the feeling of pee and poo. For toilet training toddler boys, you can buy training pants which are decorated with their favourite characters such as Thomas the train. That would be fun!

Teach him about the need of using the potty

Toddlers are really smart in learning. This is the right time to teach right things. Talk about potty and why we use the potty. I also showed him photos and videos which I found over internet of other toddlers who use the potty. This awareness was a good start to train him to use the potty.

Make it fun

Potty time should be full of fun and interactive. There are songs and books about potty training. Use such media to make toilet training fun. A favourite song, dvd or a book can do the trick of keeping the toddler sitting on the potty for some time. I usually use a potty training song from YouTube and he loves watching it.

Don’t make it stressful

Don’t force your toddler to use the potty within a day. It can be stressful for both you and your toddler. Instead try to give the idea of using the potty and monitor the success. When you force, he will never sit on the potty and that will create another problem. So, you as a parent need to prepare to be patient and interact with your toddler to ease his pressure of adjusting to a new schedule.

Finally, potty training is just another milestone of your parenting life. Take it easy and be prepare with helpful tips on potty training. When you know more about potty training, that will be an easy process and finally both you and your baby will be happy.